Sometimes I really have to question if Sabrina Carpenter is channeling the iconic and legendary energy and aura of Sharpay Evans from High School Musical.

As a millennial, I grew up obsessed with HSM, and specifically Sharpay Evans.

I feel like Sharpay was always the definition of aura.

I’m also a massive fan of Sabrina, mainly because she’s such an outspoken and feminist who speaks up for what she believes in without fear or hesitation.

For now, I really want to dig into the ways. I feel Sabrina channels Sharpay Evans. And of course, this isn’t in a copycat way or a disrespectful way. Sabrina seems like the type of starlet to draw inspiration from the best possible places to ultimately express herself as the best version of herself. I’m an independent culture journalist after spending the last seven years writing and researching professional articles for iHeartRadio, rap, and other media outlets. Now I do deep dives into shows, movies, and celebrity culture, including Sabrina Carpenter coverage. So I’ll start with her music video for Espresso.

Espresso really reminds me of Fabulous

I know I’m not the first person to come to the conclusion that Sabrina‘s music video for Espresso is strikingly similar to Sharpay‘s performance of fabulous in HSM2. We’re talking summer weather, bikinis, a vibe of superiority and opulence, oversized sunglasses, a lineup of baddies on beach chairs, and cute choreography that is impossible to forget. When I first watched HSM2 back in 2007, I was a child. I was absolutely obsessed, and Sharpay is one of the big reasons why. Her performance of Fabulous stayed rooted in my brain forever because of how fabulous it really was. So if Sabrina was even slightly channeling, any of that fabulous energy and her music video for Espresso, then I fully and completely understand it. The music video for Espresso is light, fun, dancy, and vibrant. I can picture Sharpay from 2007 swapping places with Sabrina in her Espresso music video in 2024 with the most flawless integration ever.

Looking at Me reminds me of Bop to the Top

Another song from Sabrina that truly reminds me of a magical moment from Sharpay Evans is Sabrina’s song Looking at Me compared to Sharpay’s performance of Bop to the Top. Looking at Me is a Sabrina song that came out in 2019 as part of her Singular Act 2 album with a very punchy Spanish and Latino sound to it. Sadly, the song doesn’t have a music video, but I personally know the song very well because it’s one I learned choreography for at my pole dancing studio. I absolutely love how fun and catchy it is with its Latin essence. And Bop to the Top by Sharpay also stood out to me with its Latin influence, and Spanish words mixed in. Bop to the Top comes from the first HSM movie and includes a handful of Spanish words and phrases. When I first found out that Ashley Tisdale had to be trained on basic dancing skills to start in the HSM movie franchise, I was a little surprised because she definitely looks comfortable and confident dancing, especially in her performance of Bop to the Top. But she did admit in an interview that the art of dancing was completely new to her when she landed her role in the franchise. Anyway, the fact that both of the songs are bangers and they have Latin magic to them is why I draw a parallel here.

“Taste” music video reminds me of Sharpay vs Gabriella dynamic

Another instance, I’ve noted where it seems Sabrina could possibly be channeling Sharpay‘s vibe and energy comes down to her music video for taste. The entire dynamic of the music video features a blonde and brunette fighting each other for attention and affection from a man. Sabrina casted Jenna Ortega to star in the taste of music video with her, which I thought was an excellent casting decision since I’m a huge fan of Jenna Ortega. Sabrina and Jenna‘s on screen chemistry in the music video was great, especially because it was comically hilarious the way they were talking each other and genuinely fighting to the death to be the ultimate winner. In the HSM movies, there’s no brutal attacks or physical fighting between Sharpay Evans and Gabriella Montez, but that dynamic still stands since they spend the franchise Interested in the same guy: Troy Bolton.

Gabriella is the girl who has Troy’s heart, but Sharpay does everything in her power to get his attention as well. The true love triangle aspect between Troy, Gabriella, and Sharpay comes to head in the second movie of the franchise when Sharpay tries to weasel her way into Troy‘s good graces by connecting him with college alumni and basketball scouts who could carve a brighter path for his future. As a kid watching the HSM movies, I never really thought that Troy would be tempted by a girl like Sharpay, but the love triangle dynamic still stood anyway, and it was a huge plot point and driving factor of intrigue in the HSM movies. So I love that Sabrina sort of channeled that blonde versus brunette dynamic, and her music video for Taste. The blonde versus brunette dynamic has been a very common and popularized trope in movies, TV, and general media since the dawn of time by the way, so it’s definitely possible Sabrina was inspired to go that route in her Taste music video without thinking about Sharpat Evans at all, but it still interesting, in my opinion, to draw these parallels.

Big blonde hair + hyper feminine aesthetic

Another obvious comparison I’ll make between Sabrina and Sharpay is there visual appearances and aesthetics. They both rock big blonde hair and hyper feminine auras. When it comes to Sabrina and Sharpay, the undeniable similarity of their visual appearances is impossible to ignore. Beautiful faces, blonde hair teased to the extreme, girly outfits that often include a lot of pink or other girly colors, a lot of glitter, and more. Based on Sabrina‘s aesthetic versus Sharpay‘s aesthetic, if Sharpay was actually a real person beyond her fictional movie character, I can actually see them vibing IRL.

Showgirl diva stage presence

The showgirl diva stage presence we’ve all seen from Sabrina is something many of us also recognize from Sharpay if you’ve seen all the HSM movies plus the spinoff that solely focused on Sharpay. Sharpay got her own spinoff movie for a reason. And it’s because of her showgirl diva stage presence. It’s because of the way she can attract so much attention and intrigue from viewers. She walks into a room and knows how to command attention, and that’s absolutely something Sabrina also does. As soon as Sabrina hits the stage for a performance, all eyes are on her, and she has thousands of people completely obsessed. It takes a lot to be a showgirl. What I mean by that is, you have to be really confident and sure of yourself. Hitting the perfect strut and striking the perfect pose with millions of eyes on you probably isn’t the easiest thing in the world and it probably doesn’t come natural for most people. But it comes natural for Sabrina in the real world and it came naturally for Sharpay in pretty much every scene in the HSM movie franchise.

Sharpay was never shy and she was always ready to perform. And I genuinely feel like I see a lot of that in Sabrina‘s energy as well. Sabrina is boldly and unapologetically exactly who she is, which is why I myself and so many other people adore her. Sabrina will never be anyone’s doormat. And that’s the definition of channeling Sharpay’s energy if you ask me.

Shines brightly in a duet

Another cool detail about Sabrina that totally aligns with Sharpay is the way Sabrina shines brightly in musical duets. The three musical duets I currently have in mind when I think of Sabrina are Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton, and Christina Aguilera. Sabrina agreed to be featured on Taylor’s title track for The Life of a Showgirl. She put out the remixed version of Please Please Please featuring Dolly Parton. And she performed What a Girl Wants live on stage with Christina for a Spotify event. Every single time, Sabrina shined brightly with her magnetic energy, charm, and beautiful voice. She holds her own when singing with other legendary artist like Taylor, Dolly, and Christina. Sabrina knows how to share space with another artist without overdoing it or getting her voice drowned out by the other person. And that’s definitely something we saw in all three HSM movies from Sharpay, who spent the majority of her time performing duets with her own twin brother. Sharpay never really performed on her own. She was always linked up with Ryan. Mastering the art of a beautiful duet is something we’ve seen from Sabrina and something we’ve seen from Sharpay.

Pink cars

There’s no way I could leave out the detail of driving pink cars when comparing Sabrina Carpenter to Sharpay Evans. I loved seeing Sabrina roll up in a pink car and her music video for the song Feather. Since the music video was filmed in a Catholic Church, it came with its own set of drama when a priest was demoted for allowing her to film the music video there since the video included a lot of provocative scenes. But regardless of all of that, the fact that she incorporated that pink car is really what stood out to me when thinking about a character like Sharpay Evans. One of the things I love most about Sharpay was that she drove a pink convertible in the HSM movies. As a kid, I grew up dreaming of driving a pink convertible myself one day. I did ultimately end up driving a convertible as an adult, but it was white instead of pink. Still, growing up watching Sharpay drive that car always stuck with me because I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Did Sabrina channel some inspiration from Sharpay when she went that route for her feather music video? Who knows. Maybe!

They both originated from Disney Channel

One thing we have to remember is that Sabrina Carpenter originated on Disney Channel and the character of Sharpe Evans did as well. Obviously, Sharpay is played by Ashley Tisdale, but the character is someone we only know and love because of Disney Channel. Sabrina rose to fame as Maya Hart on Girl Meets World, and Ashley Tisdale brought the magic as Sharpay in the HSM movies, years before Sabrina was even being considered for the role of Maya So it’s not that crazy of a stretch to think that Sabrina also grew up watching the HSM movies and subconsciously took a mental note here or there on channeling the legendary and iconic energy of a character like Sharpay. An old video of Sabrina Carpenter singing Gotta Go My Own Way with Joey King also went viral a couple years ago when it started recirculating on social media again. And to me, that serves as proof that Sabrina also grew up loving those movies probably just as much as the rest of us did, if not more. In her heart of hearts, she always knew she was destined to be famous. She always knew she was destined to be a performer with her big personality. So taking mental notes, whether subconsciously or not, on a character like Sharpay during her formative years likely helped steer some of her creative decisions as she got older.

And I didn’t say this before, but props to Ashley Tisdale for bringing the character of Sharpay to life the way she did because she was the best and she made the movies so much funnier, lighter, and worthwhile. She had a fierce edge to her, allowing her to play the perfect villain who wasn’t as problematic as typical villains. She was the type of villain you were still quietly rooting for her, and the kind you still secretly loved all along.